Fellowship

The fellowship programme is open to NHS partner organisation staff, people with a role in health and healthcare, and the public. To date fellows have been drawn from clinical (GPs, surgeons, nurses), managerial and research backgrounds in the acute sector and primary care across North West London, we also warmly welcome fellows who are patients, carers or members of the public passionate about changing healthcare. The fellows receive a small bursary to support their development and each partner organisation commits to providing match funding.

In addition to undertaking a programme of leadership development, including an improvement project within their own organisations, the fellows attend a 12 month bespoke programme of seminars and workshops. This includes a two day induction programme and monthly one-day networking meetings in which the fellows’ training and development needs are addressed.

Fellows also undertake a study visit to a centre of excellence to share learning, nationally and internationally. Past cohorts of fellows have visited the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Massachusetts, Dartmouth Institute of Clinical Excellence, New Hampshire and the Clinical Microsystems Festival in Jonkoping, Sweden to learn about cutting edge quality improvement work and to share their experience from North West London.

Click the image below to see a larger version of the fields our fellowship cohorts have come from:

The aim of the fellowship programme is to develop a range of future leaders in innovation and improvement with the authority and ability to advance change in their organisations and beyond, thus building capacity and supporting spread and sustainability in line with the CLAHRC NWL vision and objectives.

Six programmes have been successfully completed, with 71 fellow alumni. Previous fellows have gone on to further study (e.g. PhDs, Masters), have published and won grant funding to continue their work improving services in the local health sector.

Fellows are also invited to attend the CLAHRC NWL collaborative learning events held quarterly, information on the fellows’ work and projects are often presented at these large networking events. The fellows take part in sessions covering quality improvement methodology, communication skills, team building and community engagement. Working on the basis of “all teach, all learn”, some of these sessions have been led by the fellows themselves. The fellowship is a multi-disciplinary group where each fellow is encouraged to share their area of expertise and knowledge.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Northwest London

is a partnership between Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London